Walden University

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Public Policy (This Major's Salary over time)
My background: BA in Psych from UCSB 95, MPA from USC 01, 10+ years of social service, 7+ years in government contracted work and I want to work to develop public policy or do policy analysis.

I am now a parent of a toddler and am also a f/t employee of a cultural exchange program, so I travel internationally and need flexibility in a graduate program. I was looking for ways to develop my skills in public policy analysis and academic research, and I am not as interested in completing a PhD as I was in getting more "school" out of my prior schooling. My earlier degrees were from better known schools and were very easy. This one is online and is also easy, for me, but takes more juggling to accomplish. The level of reading is average, straightforward and educational. The writing requirements have brought me back up to an elevated level that I have missed, as I do not write for academics anymore in my professional sphere.

I find it suspicious that a lot of the reviewers criticizing the education and the psychology academic programs cannot seem to spell. That might explain a lot of the problems they are having with the program itself! I noticed that many other low scorers somehow missed the warning that their degree may not be useful in the state they are living in. I agree that can make you pretty frustrated, but that's why you are supposed to check out the information about your school of choice before applying.

Anyway, if you want to do a lot of writing, read a lot of peer reviewed journals and develop strengths in a specific project from your area of interest, this is a good school to do it with. If you want prestige from a degree, go to a well recognized school like USC or a UC and get it done before you have a kid. If you've already done that for your lower degrees and did well and crave more, then Walden's a nice fit. It's less expensive than a school like USC, is more attentive than the grant driven professors at UC, and it's the wave of the future in education and online/distance learning.

People who say it's a diploma mill probably got very little out of their Bachelor's or Master's degrees. I always say it's what you put into something that makes what you get out of it worth the effort. What you make of yourself is up to you! There are incredible people at Walden, and when you get the chance to have online chats with people from around the world and the country who are doing the same assignments, and feeling the same frustrations as yourself, it makes you realize just how globally enervating the education is at Walden.